Young Girl, Çingene Community, Eastern Turkey, June 7, 2013

While working with a dance company through four cities in Turkey, I was given a chance to pursue my personal vision through collaborations with a few local photographers. In the beautiful city of Muş, the air was supreme, the food organic and the people breathtakingly beautiful.

Upon seeing the nomads throughout the region, I was reminded of the Bedouin living in Lebanon. Their features were so similar, the tattoos on the faces of the older women spoke of their relation to the people of India and the Middle East at large. The children were strong, defiant and at the same time quite shy initially.

The young girl above was one such child. In two exposures immediately after each other, one can see the change in her expression, two almost completely different thoughts. This is the magic of photographing people such as her community. She and I have never met, our paths have never crossed and this is our first time taking in the culture of the other.

Her hair had the same consistency of her sisters in Lebanon, and her skin was as scorched as her kin living in India. Her lips were dry, chapped and her eyes were almost without moisture. To be in front of her at this very moment is an honor and a privilege. Through these images she has joined her sisters in my portfolio and will be met with love when her sisters do see her portrait.

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Note: This image was scanned through the negative sleeves for preview only, made with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/180 mm combination.